Senior army officers in
Zimbabwe have secretly warned the South African government that they may launch
a coup against Robert Mugabe if the growing political and economic crisis
results in riots. Pretoria has strongly advised against any move to overthrow
the Zimbabwean president by force but has been made aware of the circumstances
in which it may be attempted.

According to senior sources in Pretoria, Zimbabwean military commanders
believe the looming failure of the maize crop this year will create a food
crisis and prove a critical flashpoint. Zimbabwe has all but run out of foreign
exchange to import maize if, as looks likely, supplies of the staple dry up and
a partial failure of the wheat crop begins to take hold in about October.

A South African official said: "There's a serious danger of food riots, which
would become politicised. This is when the military are getting ready to
intervene."

A food crisis would take place against the background of political turmoil
which already ranges the Mugabe government in a bitter struggle against the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Zimbabwean military has told the South Africans that in such a conflict
it would be expected to side with the civilian police to suppress popular
protest and shore up Mr Mugabe.

The military has told the South African government it will refuse to use
force against ordinary Zimbabweans, and if Mr Mugabe's regime orders it do so,
it would instead opt to take power. South African officials believe that senior
officers have already laid plans to do so.

The judgment in Pretoria is that these preparations do not reflect
conventional power-hunger on the part of the army, so much as a reluctance to
take sides in an intensely politicised civil crisis brought about by the
government's failed agricultural policy.

But the identity of the key military figure and prospective coup leader casts
doubt on such optimism. According to South African intelligence, this would be
the present head of the Zimbabwe air force, Air Marshal Perence Shiri.

Air Marshal Shiri is considered a hardliner, who has played his own part in
the agriculture crisis. He formerly commanded the Fifth Brigade of the army
which is widely held responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of people
while putting down an uprising in Matabeleland between 1982 and 1987.

More recently, as head of the air force, he helped to coordinate the
occupation of hundreds of white-owned farms, and authorised the flying of the
war veterans' leader, Chenjerai Hunzvi, between them.

That a man such as Air Marshal Shiri should be actively contemplating the
overthrow of Mr Mugabe confirms the widely held view that the greatest threat to
the Zimbabwean president's power is not the political opposition but his own
allies who fear he may drive the country to ruin.

The military's backing for the government has been wavering for some time.
One major source of contention is the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
While some senior and retired Zimbabwean officers have become very rich, with
stakes in mining and diamond concessions in Congo, there is widespread
discontent within the army at the conduct of the war and the sacrifices demanded
of the troops.

Some officers also fear that their country's sharp economic decline and the
growing political violence threaten the comfortable lifestyle many have enjoyed.

Mr Mugabe's position has not been made any more secure by the death in a car
crash at the weekend of his defence minister, Moven Mahachi. Mr Mahachi was a
hardline supporter of the president and considered one of his most loyal allies.

The hardening fear of a military coup adds to the alarm of South African
leaders about the consequences of chaos and violence in their northern
neighbour. Zimbabwe is the largest African market for South African products,
and the breakdown there already poses an economic threat.

The new fear is of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans streaming over the
South African border in a desperate search for food on top of a steady flow of
more educated people seeking jobs in the cities.

Thabo Mbeki has for many months made clear to Mr Mugabe his concern at the
evidence of political and economic collapse. Though the South African president
is criticised in some quarters for not attacking Mr Mugabe publicly, Mr Mbeki's
private conversations with him have been, according to Pretoria, intense, though
their effect is muted by the Zimbabwean's insistence that he does not need to
take instructions from a man who has only been president for two years.

South Africa regards Mr Mugabe's scorn for financial institutions such as the
International Monetary Fund as, in the word of one senior official, "suicidal".
With private sector bank lending virtually inoperative, his rejection of the
advice of the international body is held by Pretoria to be evidence of personal
withdrawal from the real world.

Pressure on Zimbabwe's leader intensified late last week when the US
secretary of state, Colin Powell, on a visit to South Africa, accused him of
using "totalitarian methods" and failing to stop war veterans from "terrorising"
the country. In the wake of the Powell visit, the South African foreign
minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said South African and Zimbabwean officials
would meet soon "to make suggestions to them on how we think we should work
together".

When the Zimbabwe government sent a team of four Ministers led by Simba
Makoni to South Africa in April, they were told what the South Africans regard
as the irreducible minimum conditions were for assistance from South Africa.
Makoni was told to go back to Zimbabwe and to develop proposals that could be
considered by the SA government as the basis for a formal agreement between the
two States on the way forward. Makoni failed to get such proposals agreed and
the proposed talks between Mbeki and Mugabe failed to take place.

Instead, within two weeks of these talks, Zanu PF launched their urban
campaign of attacks on business the NGO organisations and the Trade Unions. The
consequential violence and extortion received widespread publicity and for the
first time, significant SA investments in Zimbabwe were targeted.

In response to these developments, the South Africans have now concluded a
major review of their policy towards Zimbabwe and in the past week we gave seen
the first signs of this new stance. This has included the following actions – a
strong protest to the Zimbabwe government about the threat to SA business and
managers operating in Zimbabwe; a decision to "go public" with a tougher stance
on the fundamental issues and now a strong statement by the High Commission in
Harare. The latter is set out below for your information.

Statement by the South African High Commission to Zimbabwe on the
23rd May 2001

The South African High Commission would like to set the record straight on
misconceptions that is being created in the media by certain journalists with
regard to the South African position on a number of issues and problems in
Zimbabwe.

There has of late been a misrepresentation of facts and reported comments
from the South African High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Mr A J D Ndou. The report
which appeared in the Mirror of 18-24 May 2001 which alleged that the South
African High Commissioner have said that South Africa will not condemn the
perceived lawlessness in Zimbabwe is incorrect. Also, the statement which
attempts to portray President Mbeki as just another stereotypical leader in
Africa is also grossly inappropriate. The report carried by the Panafrican News
Agency on the 19th May is also flawed with inaccuracies.

Herewith is a fact file on the South African position regarding Zimbabwe.

South Africa does not, and will never condone the violence seen in the
country, excuse the occupation of farms and serious harassment of people in
rural and urban areas, and strongly condemns the latest spate of business
invasions in Zimbabwe.

South Africa’s position as voiced by President Thabo Mbeki on land
redistribution is "that land redistribution needs to be addressed but that it
had to be done in such a manner that will serve the needs of all Zimbabweans,
both black and white, and that it had to be done within the context of law,
without violence, respecting the fact that people do have property rights".

The South Africa government continues to engage with the Zimbabwean
government on these and other issues. President Mbeki remarked on the
24th October 2000 "it is quite obvious that we cannot allow a
situation in this country where people occupy the land of others illegally". He
stressed "this cannot be allowed" and said it will not happen in South Africa.

At the Convention of the South African Chamber of Commerce on the
24th of October 2000, President Mbeki stated that the South African
government will continue to work with the Zimbabwe government "because we are
concerned about the situation in Zimbabwe. We have as South Africans offered
help to the Zimbabwe government because we cannot welcome the collapse of the
government in Zimbabwe". He said people forced to leave the country will not
likely go overseas, but will come to South Africa.

The South African Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister Zuma, said on the
8th May 2001 that Zimbabwe remains of great concern to South Africa
and South Africa will continue engaging the Zimbabwe government whilst pointing
out firmly and frankly where South Africa disagrees with them. South Africa has
a responsibility to avoid a complete collapse and not to make things worse for
ordinary Zimbabweans. "All of us can help to a point but it is the Zimbabweans
that must surely take final decisions. The future destiny of Zimbabwe is in
their hands".

South Africa is also dealing with the Zimbabwe government on other questions
including the fuel crisis, energy and Zimbabwe’s relations with the World Bank
and the IMF. President Mbeki said "we do so in order to assist Zimbabwe and
Zimbabweans".

President Mbeki said it is clear that we must deal with the issue of
Zimbabwe, in order to deal with the negative perception related to what I
(President Mbeki) am told is the "fear of contagion".

President Mbeki stressed that it is part of South Africa’s national task to
contribute to the resolution of the conflicts and the advancement of the
continent as a whole.

The South African government is very concerned with events in the past few
weeks where the business community has been threatened and harassed.

The impact that the South African private sector is having on African
countries is to the benefit of the region and continent. The work many of these
companies are doing are being interpreted as a contribution by Africans to their
own development. South Africa cannot accept a perceived signal that foreign
investment might not be protected in the region.

The rule of law is the fundamentals of any civil society and lawlessness is
strongly condemned by the South African government. Acts of violence aimed at
any individual will never be condoned by the South African government and
people.

The above is South Africa’s position with regard to the situation in
Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe continues studying white farmers' offer

May 26, 2001 Posted: 8:48 AM EDT (1248 GMT)

HARARE,
Zimbabwe (Reuters) -- Zimbabwe's vice-president was quoted on
Saturday as saying the government was still studying a proposal by white farmers
aimed at breaking an impasse over President Robert
Mugabe's land seizures and had not rejected it.

Joseph Msika, who chairs the cabinet land acquisition committee, told the
official Herald newspaper the government welcomed the farmers' offer as a basis
for talks but wanted time to establish that it supported its own land program.

"What we do not want is for the CFU (Commercial Farmers Union) to propose an
alternative program," he said.

"It should rather be supportive of our own program, otherwise the proposals
contained in the union's document are a step in the right direction as far as I
am concerned," he said.

Zimbabwe's embattled white farmers on Thursday offered to sell one million
hectares (2.5 million acres) of land to resettle 20,000 black families. They
also promised to help organize finance for the scheme.

The program is sponsored by the CFU, private sector banks and other
businesses and followed a series of meetings between farmers and government
officials.

Agriculture Minister Joseph Made had dismissed the proposal, saying the
government was pushing ahead with its plan to seize white-owned farms and had no
reason to talk to the farmers.

But Msika said farmers' plans to drop legal challenges to government seizures
of land had made room for negotiations.

"Now that the commercial farmers have realized that land is fundamentally a
political issue and not a legal one, our committee will be in a position to open
meaningful dialogue with them," he said.

"In fact by welcoming the CFU's initiative and accepting their document for
perusal, we lose nothing as this is merely a basis for dialogue," he added.

Mugabe has targeted more than 3,000 white-owned farms as part of his plan to
redistribute land he says was stolen by British settlers more than a century
ago.

Land seizures have been accompanied by violence and a subsequent fall in
output at commercial farms since the land reform program began last year.

The farmers say their proposal would allow Zimbabwe to lay out a land reform
scheme acceptable to international donors, and if it was accepted by the
government, the CFU would "not need to pursue further litigation against the
government."

The farmers have won court cases declaring Mugabe's land program illegal, but
the government has ignored the rulings.

The farmers say the initiative's success depends on the government paying
fair compensation for the land. Mugabe has said that can only be done with donor
funding.

The program would help to establish $1.37 billion ($25 million) in financing
for resettled farmers. The government has dismissed previous CFU proposals as
attempts to derail its "fast-track" land resettlement plan.

Mugabe plans to confiscate five million of the 12 million hectares occupied
by white farmers. He has said white farmers own 70 percent of the best land and
should only be compensated for improvements, not for the land.

Mugabe has allowed his supporters, led by self-styled veterans of the 1970s
war of independence from Britain, to occupy hundreds of white farms since
February last year.

London - Early hours of Sunday morning 27 May
2001, Albert Weidemann wasstruck by a car from behind. His body was
sandwiched between our car and theother car, a Mercedes Benz. The force of
the impact pushed our car forward,which hit another two cars in front of our
car. Albert was still in Londonafter having co-ordinated a peaceful
demonstration outside the Zimbabwe HighCommission on Saturday afternoon. The
purpose of this demonstration wasmainly to focus on and highlight the
anarchy and lawlessness, the horrificattacks on opposition party members and
company invasions in Zimbabwe.

Immobilised in a hospital bed in
London with a cracked pelvis Albert insiststhat he be wheeled to a telephone
so that he can call his wife (That's me -Kathy). Albert has requested that I
put this communiqué out and to requestthat the authorities have this matter
regarding the accident investigatedthoroughly.

Albert has also asked
to let everyone know that he may be down but he is byno means out and the
demonstrations will continue. The next demonstrationwill be on Saturday 30
June 2001 from 12h00 to 14h00 outside the ZimbabweHigh Commission (429 The
Strand, London).

SET
in a valley amid rugged hills, southern Africa's largest city was abandoned by
the Shona people in the 15th century. Now, once again, the Great Zimbabwe Ruins
are empty. This time, they have been abandoned by tourists.

President Robert
Mugabe's constant attacks on whites have combined with a wave of
political violence and an accelerating economic collapse to drive visitors away
from Zimbabwe. Tourism fell by 70 per cent last year and more than 12,000 jobs
were lost.

The industry was once Zimbabwe's second largest hard currency earner and its
collapse means that a central pillar of the economy has been removed. But
perhaps the worst blow has been to the country's self-esteem.

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins are the cradle of the nation, the site from which
the country takes its name. The circular stone walls and conical tower, built in
the 13th century as the capital of a vast African empire, are symbols of
national pride.

Their picture adorns coins and banknotes and has been appropriated as the
flag of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. Zimbabwe's equivalent of Westminster Abbey or
Buckingham Palace now attracts only a handful of admirers.

On a good day, perhaps 30 tourists arrive and rapidly disappear into the
three square miles of winding stone walls, surrounded by rocky hills and dense
bush. Terri Carlson, 46, from Brisbane, Australia, has visited Great Zimbabwe on
numerous occasions and was shocked to find it deserted.

She said: "This is my favourite country. I love this place and it is
soul-destroying to see what's happening to it. Look around you and there is no
one here, no one to admire this beautiful place. It's so upsetting to see such a
wonderful country deteriorate so fast."

As a regular visitor to Zimbabwe, Mrs Carlson was not deterred by reports of
widespread violence and fierce anti-white rhetoric. Other tourists thought long
and hard before visiting.

Standing beside the 30ft walls of the Great Enclosure, Verna Scott, 67, from
Melbourne, Australia, said: "When I told people I was coming here, they thought
I was mad. I had heard about the white farmers being shot, but I decided to come
anyway. I should be nervous but I'm not. I sort of trust people and I'm having a
very good time here."

It is possible to travel safely around Zimbabwe and visitors to the tourist
attractions encounter few signs of a country in turmoil. But the Great Zimbabwe
Ruins are 200 miles south of Harare and the practical difficulty of reaching
them, when petrol is virtually unobtainable, is a major deterrent.

Claudius Chimuti worked as a guide for Springbird safaris until the company
went bankrupt in March and its white owner fled Zimbabwe. He now ekes out a
living from showing the handful of visitors around the ruins.

Mr Chimuti said: "We are going through hell. I cannot afford anything.
Everything has just gone down. There are no tourists and we don't know how we
are going to live." While the disappearance of tourists has deepened the poverty
of black Zimbabweans, the effects run deeper.

During the colonial era, the Rhodesians refused to believe that Africans were
capable of constructing a stone city on the scale of Great Zimbabwe and claimed
that its true architects were Arab traders. That myth has been buried. But a
black African government has ensured that there are few visitors to admire one
of the greatest achievements of black
Africa.

AMERICA
stepped up the international pressure on President Robert Mugabe yesterday by
calling for action to prevent Zimbabwe's crisis from spreading into neighbouring
South Africa.

Shared concern: Colin
Powell and Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma

Colin Powell, the
Secretary of State, delivered a tough message in Pretoria after meeting
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the South African Foreign Minister. It was seen as a
signal that America expected Mr Mugabe's most powerful neighbour to take a
firmer stand against his excesses.

Mr Powell gave warning of the danger posed to the entire southern African
region by political turmoil in Zimbabwe. He said: "We not only discussed the
economic crisis. I concentrated on the political crisis caused to a large extent
by the actions of President Mugabe.

"The two things together are leading to a crisis that will spill over the
borders and affect South Africa itself. Action has to be taken to stabilise the
situation and persuade Mr Mugabe to act in a more democratic fashion."

Later, in an African policy speech in Johannesburg, Mr Powell called for free
and fair elections in Zimbabwe. He said: "After more than 20 years in office,
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe seems determined to remain in power. Now it
is for the citizens of Zimbabwe to choose their leader in a free and fair
election and they should be given the opportunity."

Mr Mugabe glories in defying the Western powers, particularly Britain and
America, and has ignored all their calls for restraint. But South Africa
supplies Zimbabwe with fuel, electricity and other essentials and is the one
country that he cannot afford to ignore.

Mrs Zuma indicated that South Africa shared many of America's concerns. She
said: "We view the situation in Zimbabwe as very critical and we are very
worried both as neighbours and as people who do a lot of trade with Zimbabwe."

Mr Mbeki has chosen not to use the immense leverage South Africa has over Mr
Mugabe. Yet Zimbabwe's economic collapse has
deterred foreign investors from approaching South Africa and
contributed to the rand's slide on the foreign exchange markets. Pressure from
Mr Powell is likely to make Mr Mbeki take a tougher
stand.

Action against Mugabe could be to
defend the party elite, not to bring democracy

Johannesburg - If Robert Mugabe's generals ever decide tell him
that his two-decade reign as Zimbabwe's ever more abusive president is over, it
will not be because the military top brass has suddenly decided to respect the
will of the people. What will probably be a bloodless, almost imperceptible coup
- with the state radio announcing that the great liberator has decided to quit
because of ill health, or some equally innocuous explanation, - will come
because Mr Mugabe threatens to bring the entire ruling Zanu-PF and its elite
crashing around him. In the end the party, and the power, privilege and
protection it has come to stand for, may prove more important than the man.

Mr Mugabe has long counted on the 40,000-strong military for
support, as much as his political allies. For most of the past 20 years, the
army has been as inextricably linked as Zanu-PF to his rule. Many military
commanders came from the two guerrilla armies which fought Ian Smith's regime to
a standstill and forced it to make a political surrender. The new Zimbabwe
forged a professional national army, particularly by the standards of the
region. But it also in many ways remained a revolutionary force, with a
political ideal and loyalty.

In recent years, Mr Mugabe promoted senior army officers to
head the Central Intelligence Organisation because he trusted them more than his
own spies. There is not much doubt that at the most senior levels there is still
strong support for the ruling party, but loyalty to Zanu-PF no longer guarantees
unconditional backing for Mr Mugabe. The military top brass, like some of the
ruling party's old guard, fear the consequences of driving Zimbabwe to the point
where economic collapse, food shortages and mass unemployment provoke widespread
civil unrest and even revolution. They equally fear losing power through the
ballot box.

For a start, some military and political leaders are raking in
small fortunes, particularly through the army's foray into the DRC. This is no
mere looting spree. The Zimbabwe defence force has taken a business-like
approach, creating joint-venture and front companies to cream off some of
Congo's richest mines. Among the top brass, the army chief, General Vitalis
Zvinavashe, is a major stakeholder in a company called Operation Sovereign
Legitimacy which has lucrative mining contracts in Congo through a partnership
with a firm owned by Congo's late president, Laurent Kabila.

But the military chiefs also have other reasons to fear a
collapse of Zanu-PF's rule. Less restrained opposition activists are agitating
for corruption and human rights trials of Zimbabwe's elite if and when the new
order takes over. That would undoubtedly include a number of senior military
officers, including those responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of
people in Matabeleland in the mid-1980s. There will also be pressure to bring to
book the senior military officers who helped to organise the occupation of
hundreds of white-owned farms and the savage attacks and murders of black farm
workers and opposition activists during the past year. Troops in civilian
clothes mingled with the "war veterans" as they stormed the farms. The army
sometimes provided transport and food. Gen Zvinavashe and the head of the
central intelligence organisation, retired Colonel Happison Bonongwe, paid
separate visits to the president of the largely white CFU to threaten him and
his members if they opposed the government.

Mr Mugabe has hinted that as the political crisis deepens he
will use any civil unrest to impose a state of emergency and rule by decree. He
will be expecting the army to enforce what will amount to dictatorial rule and
suppress any popular protest, but the military has told the South African
government that if that happens it will launch a coup. South African sources say
the favoured candidate to lead the takeover is Air Marshal Perence Shiri - who
commanded troops in Matabeleland during the 1980s massacres, and now heads the
air force. That would provide no comfort to the opposition, as it would almost
certainly herald an attempt to perpetuate Zanu-PF's rule under one guise or
another.

If the army does seize power, it will not necessarily mean a
military ruler for the country. If the military backs any politician, it is
likely to be Emmerson Mnangagwa, speaker of parliament, a former intelligence
chief and the man most frequently touted as Mr Mugabe's successor. Mr Mnangagwa
was a prime force behind the country's military foray into Congo to prop up Mr
Kabila against a Rwandan and Ugandan invasion. Perhaps more importantly, he was
an important broker for the army's expanding business interests in Congo.
Essentially, he negotiated the swapping of Zimbabwean soldiers' lives for mining
contracts.

Mr Mugabe cannot count on the army rank and file to keep their
leaders in line. Among the footsoldiers, the war in Congo has only bolstered
support for the opposition. The army leadership keeps a tight reign on ordinary
soldiers, so few speak out publicly, but some of those sent to fight thousands
of miles away have complained to their families of effectively being abandoned
without sufficient weapons, or even food. There is apparently a widespread view
among Zimbabwean troops that they are not defending Congo from foreign invasion
or even helping to keep the Kabila family in power. What they are really
fighting to defend are the large profits made by senior and retired officers and
military-owned companies in Congo. The government keeps secret just how many of
its soldiers have died in Congo. The families of the killed troops are rarely
told where or how they died, and what little they are told they are ordered not
to repeat. One mother did go public after all she retrieved of her son was his
head, delivered in a box by the army.

Mr Mugabe has attempted to keep a grip on the army, if not
ensure its complete loyalty, with the mass integration of so-called war veterans
into the ranks over recent months. But that has only alienated further the more
professional soldiers. In the end, Mr Mugabe's extreme tactics to retain power
may save him the humiliation of electoral defeat, but cost him his
presidency.

The fight for power

Perence Shiri

Shiri achieved notoriety in the mid-1980s as the commander of
the 5th Brigade responsible for the Matabeleland massacres in which
an estimated 20,000 Ndebele civilians were killed during the suppression of
anti-Mugabe dissent. Shiri's brigade, which was virtually all Shona-speaking,
received special military training from North Korean advisers. It was accused of
mass executions but did Shiri's career no harm. The 54-year old now heads the
air force. He has been fiercely loyal to Mugabe but is considered politically
shrewd enough to realise that there is more at stake than the fate of one man.
Human rights groups say Shiri's name heads the list of officers who should face
trial for crimes against humanity.

Emmerson Mnangagwa

Widely regarded as the cabinet minister with the best
connections to the army he is widely tipped to succeed Mugabe, with or without
the military's help. The 55-year old speaker of parliament is hugely trusted by
Mugabe, serving as security minister, defence minister and acting finance
minister. But he is also respected in the army, dating back to his role as one
of the leading guerrillas fighting Rhodesian white minority rule. He is at the
forefront of the exploitation of mining concessions in Congo. He is not so
popular with the public. He lost his seat in last year's elections and only
remained in parliament because Mugabe appointed him as speaker.

Moven Mahachi

The defence minister killed in a car crash at the weekend was
one of Robert Mugabe's staunchest allies, but not overly popular with the
military. He staunchly defended Zimbabwe's military entanglement in Congo. His
loyalty to Mugabe was such that when a Zimbabwean newspaper reported that 23
mid-ranking army officers had been arrested for plotting a coup two years ago,
he had the reporters responsible arrested and tortured.

From ZWNEWS, 29
May

Mahachi’s death increases factional paranoia

Michael Hartnack

In the past ten years a succession of
President Robert Mugabe's ministers and close associates have died on the roads,
from Commerce Minister Christopher Ushewokunze to black economic empowerment
activist Peter Pamire. In Ushewokunze's case, he and his driver were involved in
three separate crashes within 48 hours, all alcohol related, finally hitting an
army lorry. Pamire's four-wheel-drive bounced off a potholed suburban road at
high speed. There were allegations later that someone had tried to cut the brake
lines.

An atmosphere of paranoia already prevailed
among the ruling Zanu PF elite last week when Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, head of
the militant "Liberation War Veterans' Association" collapsed for undisclosed
reasons in Bulawayo and was rushed to hospital. News media switchboards were
jammed not once but repeatedly by successive waves of rumours Hunzvi had died,
only three weeks after his close associate, Minister for Youth Border Gezi "with
special responsibility for war veterans"-was killed near Mvuma on the
Harare-Masvingo Road. Such is the depth of suspicion-or superstition-among
Mugabe's lieutenants that none will credit that Gezi's armoured Mercedes,
travelling at speeds over 200 kph, might have had any innate tendency to flip
out of control if it hit a rough patch of road and burst a retreaded
tyre.

Then on Saturday night came the news that
Defence Minister Moven Mahachi had been killed in a road accident near his farm
in the eastern Nyanga mountains. A ruling party mogul, who must remain nameless,
told me there is a mood of mutual fear among rival factions, all jockeying for
power around their ageing messiah as he seeks a further six-year presidential
term next April. It is a life-and-death game of musical chairs-everyone is
fearful they may be wrongly placed when the music of the presidential heartbeat
ceases. "Since Chris Ushewokunze's death everyone has been too frightened to
show themselves," he said - surely an exaggeration, for some have adopted an
extremely high profile - notably Gezi, Hunzvi, and the late Mahachi.

The official media last week gave a big
build up to a speech Mugabe was supposed to be giving to the Comesa summit in
Cairo after flying on to the Egyptian capital from Kinshasa. There has been no
explanation why Mugabe's entourage of media lackeys failed to report a word of
the address - was it cancelled because he was not well enough to deliver it?
Four years ago Mugabe received treatment for throat cancer in a London clinic
and although he looks fit and vigorous at morning appointments,
hisappearance later in the day often gives the impression of one on
sedatives. As a result of Mahachi's death, it was announced, Mugabe cancelled
his next jaunt, to the G15 summit in Indonesia. Mahachi, 53, was reported to be
travelling in a four-wheel-drive when it was involved in a head on collision
with a light saloon car. The state controlled media declared that the driver of
the car was drunk and pulled out to overtake, but survived the accident, as did
four others in Mahachi's vehicle. Who was driving the latter was not made clear.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, said the news of Mahachi's death, coming on the
heels of Gezi's and the collapse of Hunzvi, was "shatteringly devastating for
Mugabe". It deprived Mugabe of loyalists vital to his apparatus of intimidation
as Zimbabwe approaches presidential elections next April. The government hopes
to disqualify Tsvangirai from standing as a candidate at his pending trial for
"terrorism" - he warned if Mugabe did not go peacefully he would be pushed.
Tsvangirai said, incidentally, that the 1 - 2m Zimbabweans now thought to be
living in South Africa could not be prevented from contributing to opposition
funds by legislation recently rushed through Parliament. The ban might easily be
circumvented through friends and relatives, and would be challenged as
unconstitutional if brought before the courts.

Tsvangirai said an obvious successor to
Mahachi as commander of Mugabe's uniformed forces - who now include Hunzvi's
"war veterans" as a special military reserve - was Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa was political head of the feared Central Intelligence Organisation
throughout the 1980-1988 Matabeleland unrest, when up to 20 000 suspected
opponents died. "The problem is Mugabe cannot afford to move Mnangagwa out of
Parliament. He has to have him control things there," predicted Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai is confident the MDC can win a series of pending
by-elections.

American
Secretary of State Colin Powell certainly touched a raw nerve when he demanded
in Johannesburg last Friday that Mugabe refrain from using "totalitarian
methods" to cling to power. There was an outburst of fury in the
government-controlled media, including a descent into foul-mouthed racial abuse,
not heard from the most right wing whites in Rhodesian days. Mugabe's press
secretary George Charamba said Powell's calls for free and fair elections were
"even more regrettable coming from an African American who should understand
Africa's unresolved colonial injustices". It was presumably with an eye on
Powell's impending visit that South African High Commissioner to Zimbabwe
Jeremiah Ndou last week issued an unprecedented slap-down to official
mouthpieces, which continued to claim Mugabe enjoys the tacit support of
Pretoria in the drive for "fast track" black economic empowerment on farms and
in factories. Past utterances of ANC chief whip Toni Yengeni had rather left
this impression.

"South Africa does not and will never
condone the violence seen in the country, excuse the occupation of farms and
serious harassment of people in the rural and urban areas, and strongly condemns
the latest spate of business invasions in Zimbabwe," said Ndou. "The rule of law
is the fundamental of any civil society and lawlessness is strongly condemned by
the South African Government. Acts of violence will never be condoned by the
South African Government and people." When SA Foreign Affairs minister Dlamini
Zuma told Powell "we have been very frank with the Zimbabweans" she could point
to this statement as evidence.

It is only regrettable something equally
strong was not forthcoming two years ago when Mahachi ordered the abduction and
torture of independent journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, for reporting
unrest in the army over the deployment of 13 000 men in the Democratic Republic
of Congo. With his Billy Bunter figure, chubby face and high pitched voice,
Mahachi always seemed an immature and ineffectual figure. Certainly, his spell
at the Ministry of Lands some years back did nothing for the cause of serious
agrarian reform, and contributed to Britain's decision to freeze its £40m
funding. Too many former commercial farms, bought with British cash, were ending
in the hands of the new elite. His explosion of shrill, tearful indignation when
taxed with the evidence suggested he felt Zanu PF could always be on the moral
high ground, would always have a charmed life. It is a pity he was not
warned.

From The Daily News, 28
May

Judge orders trial of Chiminya
killers

High Court judge, Justice James Devittie,
has ordered Andrew Chigovera, the Attorney-General (AG), to prosecute the
alleged murderers of Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika. Chiminya and Mabika,
MDC party activists, were petrol-bombed in their car at Murambinda growth point
last April. In his 71-page judgment, Devittie said Nyasha Machakaire, the
registrar of the High Court, should transmit the record of evidence in the
Buhera North election petition to Chigovera for purposes of prosecution. The
court heard that Chiminya and Mabika were killed by Joseph Mwale, of the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO), and Kainos Tom "Kitsiyatota" Zimunya, a war
veteran, while campaigning for the MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, in Buhera
North in last June’s poll.

Devittie said: "In terms of section 137 of
the Electoral Act, the record of evidence must be transmitted by the registrar
to the AG with a view to the institution of any prosecution proper to be
instituted in the circumstances and the attention of the AG is drawn to the
evidence on the killing of Chiminya and Mabika." Section 137 says if the High
Court states in the report on the trial of an election petition that any person
has or may have been guilty of a corrupt practice or illegal practice or that
there is reason to believe that corrupt practices or illegal practices have
extensively prevailed at the election to which the petition refers, the evidence
shall be forwarded to the AG for prosecution. Devittie described the murder of
Chiminya and Mabika as a wicked act. "I have no discretion in the conclusion I
must reach. I must perform the duty which the law imposes upon me. I dare not do
more than a judge bound by the law may do. Who dares do more is none. I must
stand for the truth. The killing of Chiminya and Mabika was a wicked act,"
Devittie said.

Itai Mudzingwa, who was brought to court as
a witness, said on 15 April last year Mwale, Zimunya and a number of Zanu PF
youths climbed into a cream Nissan twin-cab belonging to Zanu PF Manicaland
province and drove to the CIO offices at Murambinda where the two alighted and
entered the office. Later, they came out and Mudzingwa noticed that Mwale and
Zimunya were each wielding an AK rifle and Mudzamiri, a war veteran, was
carrying a green canvas bag. They then approached the MDC vehicle where Chiminya
and Mabika were in. Mudzingwa told the court that Mwale and Zimunya started
assaulting the two. The other occupants who were in the back of the truck fled.
Mwale and Zimunya then removed some liquid from the Zanu PF vehicle which they
sprinkled inside the MDC vehicle and set it ablaze. Zimunya was arrested briefly
and released. Mwale is now reported to be based in Chimanimani.

Bharat Patel, the Deputy AG, yesterday said
he had not seen the record of evidence yet. "I am not aware of that. I will
check with the office to find out whether that record has been submitted to the
office or not," he said. Mwale and Zimunya failed to come to the High Court to
give evidence after they were summoned to appear in court during the hearing.
Last month, Devittie declared the election result null and void and ruled that
Kenneth Manyonda of Zanu PF, who had defeated Tsvangirai, was not duly elected
and that not any person was entitled to be having been declared duly elected to
represent the constituency. In another election petition, Devittie ruled that
Olivia Muchena was not duly elected in Mutoko South after Derrick Muzira of the
MDC petitioned the court. The judge also nullified Reuben Marumahoko’s victory
in Hurungwe East.

Following these rulings against Zanu PF,
Devittie wrote to President Mugabe saying he was going to take leave at the end
of July pending his resignation on 31 November this year. He refused to disclose
his reasons for leaving the Bench. The Judiciary has been under fire from Zanu
PF and war veterans led by Chenjerai Hunzvi for passing judgments not favourable
to the government over the controversial fast-track resettlement exercise. The
group drove Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay to resign after they accused him of
passing judgments in favour of the MDC and against the land invaders. The
government quickly moved in and appointed Godfrey Chidyausiku as the acting
Chief Justice. Chidyausiku is widely regarded as pro-Zanu PF. Supreme Court
judges Wilson Sandura, Ahmed Ebrahim, Simbarashe Muchechetere and Nicholas
McNally refused to leave the
Bench.

From our own
correspondent

Tutu blasts
Zimbabwe

It felt as if Zimbabwe was the "ghost at the feast" at a
celebration gala in London to mark 7 years of freedom in South Africa last
night. At the star-studded "Freedom Too!" event, attended by many well known
British and South African figures (including SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, Lord Richard Attenborough, Neil and Glenys Kinnock, Paul Boateng
and others of the great and the good), special guest Archbishop Desmond Tutu
spoke out against South Africa’s northern neighbour, spelling out in detail how
the events which are seen there could not happen in South Africa. He went so far
as to name Zimbabwe and to mention in specific detail dictators hanging on to
power and the breakdown of the rule of law, in order to bring home his point.
Apart from the mention of Zimbabwe, the event was a very upbeat and positive
celebration of the new South Africa over the past seven years